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The first Europeans who came to explore the southern tip of South America saw the campfires of the native inhabitants of the area (the Yaghan people, also called Yámana). The Spanish explorers hence named the area "Tierra del Fuego", meaning "land of fire" in Spanish.[10][11]

Tierra del Fuego National Park is studded with mountains, lakes and rivers, which form deep valleys. It is bounded on the west by the Chilean border, on the north by Lago Fagnano, and on the south by the Beagle Channel, which forms the shoreline. It encompasses an area of 63,000 hectares (160,000 acres) and represents two ecoregions: the Altos Andes and the Patagonian Forest. While the former ecoregion is made up of hill ranges and slopes, the latter has high and jagged mountains, glacier valleys and semi-deciduous forests. The landscape of the park is the result of glacial erosion, which has created bays and beaches against a backdrop of rugged mountains and valleys.[4][8][12]

The park experiences a temperate climate with frequent rain, fog and strong winds. Westerly winds over the sea maintain a uniform climate in the park. The average annual rainfall is 700 mm (28 in). Peak rainfall (snowfall at higher elevations) occurs from March through May; there is no dry season. Average temperatures are about 0 °C (32 °F) in winter and 10 °C (50 °F) in the summer.[8] At Ushuaia, the recorded mean annual temperature reported is 5.4 °C (41.7 °F) with maximum monthly mean of 14.2 °C (57.6 °F) and minimum of −10.4 °C (13.3 °F).[4]

Period impression of the HMS Beagle navigating along Tierra del Fuego, 1833

Humans inhabited Tierra del Fuego as far back as 10,000 years ago.[citation needed] The Yaghan people, living in the harsh environment, survived on the natural resources of the sea. They lived on its beaches and made voyages into the sea in canoes made of lenga beech, hunted sea lions and collected shellfish. They lived in huts made of tree branches and trunks and clothed themselves with leather made from sea lion pelts. They smeared their body with the fat and grease of these animals to waterproof their skins.[5] Trouble for the Yaghan people began in 1880, when European missionaries entered the area. European settlers brought diseases such as syphilis and measles, causing a rapid and nearly complete extinction of the Yaghan people. The Yaghan tribe was reduced in number from about 3,000 people in 1880 to less than 100 by the 1990s.[citation needed] Many of them were killed by European settlers' "shoot exercises" and deliberate poisoning to exploit the sea lions, the staple of the Yaghan diet.[8][9] Following the death of 84-year-old Emelinda Acuña (1921 - 12 October 2005), only one native speaker remains, Cristina Calderón of Villa Ukika on Navarino Island, Chile.[13] What can be seen of the Yaghan people and their settlements today are mainly relics in the form of piles of mussel shells overgrown with grass near the seashore. Some antiquarian links with the tribals can also be seen in the "End of the World Museum" in Ushuaia.[9]

The park forms the southern portion of the subantarctic forest and is known for its biological richness.[14]

Flora

The subantarctic forest vegetation is dominated by tree species of coihue, nires and lenga (a tree or shrub native to the Andes and also known as lenga beech) apart from a profusion of massbed.[9] The flora that characterizes the "Andino-Patagonico" forests, the lenga, is well distributed over the mountain slopes above sea level to a height of 600 m (2,000 ft). Above 600 m (2,000 ft) elevation, the flora consists of altoandina with small little bushes, plants en cojin and grasses.[8]

Settlers from Europe and North America introduced many species of animals into the area, such as the European rabbit, North American beaver, muskrat and gray fox, which rapidly proliferated and caused significant damage to the environment.[8][9][16]

Apart from the Ushuaia city, there are many attractions within the park. These are: Beagle Channel, the Pipo River cascade, the Lago Fagnano, Lago Roca, the Ensanada Bay, the Lapataia Bay, the End of the World Train the Laguna Negra and many others.[9]

Ushuaia, a former penal colony, is claimed to be the southernmost city in the world.[18] It is the capital and port of Tierra del Fuego province, located on southwest shores of the Beagle Channel.[19] The park is located 11 km (6.8 mi) to the west of the city of Ushuaia, on National Road 3.[18] Ushuaia provides the main approach to the park through the highway or through the Southern Fuegian Railway. The modern city is set in brightly coloured houses on the Beagle channel shores in the backdrop of snow-covered mountains of Martial mountains in the north.[20]

The southern group of the Selk’nam, the Yaghan people (also known as Yámana), occupied what is now Ushuaia, living in continual conflict with the northern inhabitants of the island. Wasti H. Stirling, an Anglican missionary, settled here in 1870 and started to convert Yaghan tribes, the natives, the original residents of the Beagle Channel. Prior to this, Charles Darwin had arrived here in 1832. The name "Ushuaia" is a derivative of the Yaghan language.[18][20] After an Argentine naval base was established in 1884, the island was divided between Argentina and Chile.[19] During the 1880s, many goldprospectors came to Ushuaia, following rumors of large gold fields, which proved to be false. In later years, Argentinian President Roca established a penal colony in the region in 1902, on nearby Staten Island, which resulted in its development. Prisoners were the main work force and were employed to construct the city and exploit the forests of the now Tierra del Fuego National Park. The train lines were also built by the prisoners, covering an area of 25 km (16 mi), which started from the Maipú Monte Susana camp and ran through the park.[18][19] The city is now an important tourist center as the departure point not only for the park but also for voyages to Antarctica.[20]

The Beagle Channel or strait in Tierra del Fuego National Park is named after the British ship HMS Beagle, which sailed with the explorer Charles Darwin aboard in 1833–34.[21] The channel separates islands of the Tierra del Fuego Archipelago, in extreme southern South America. It separates Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego from the islands of Nueva, Picton, Navarino, Hoste, Londonderry, Stewart, and other smaller islands to the south. It is oriented in an east-west direction, runs for a length of 150 mi (240 km). Its width varies from 3 to 8 mi (4.8 to 12.9 km). The biggest settlement on the channel is Ushuaia in Argentina followed by Puerto Williams in Chile, two of the southernmost settlements in the world.[22][23] Ancient middens where Yaghan tribes lived are seen on the beaches around the Beagle Channel.[5]

The Boundary Treaty of 1881 was an attempted resolution of the territorial dispute between Argentina and Chile, and stipulated that the boundary between the two countries would run south from "Cape Espiritu Santo, on the northern shore of Tierre del Fuego till it touches the Beagle Channel". This division meant that Argentina would be entitled to the eastern portion while Chile would have the western part of the Tierre del Fuego. However, the Treaty did not clarify on the terminus of the Beagle channel, which created many territorial and collateral issues such as navigation rights. This resulted in a dispute between the two countries, particularly on the small islands (Picton, Lennox and Nueva) up to Cape horn. The dispute, which started in 1840, almost resulted in war between the two countries in 1978. However, with the intervention of the Vatican the issue was resolved. The Pope ruled on the dispute, a ratification ensued and a treaty was signed on 2 May 1985. Under this treaty, Chile retained control of all the disputed islands and Argentina was entitled to the navigational rights and maintained their limited presence on these islands.[23]

Lago Fagnano (named after the Salesian monk José Fagnano[24]), also known as Cami Lake, the southernmost lake of its size outside Antarctica, is the largest lake in Tierra del Fuego and flows southward along the eastern slope of the Andean Cordillera of Patagonia into the Magellan Strait through the Azopardo River.[25] It is hemmed in the active tectonic plate (linked to the Magallanes-Fagnano fault) boundary between the South American and Scotia plates.[26] Its East-West orientation in the southern part of Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego encompasses the national territories of Argentina and Chile;[25] only a small part of the lake lies in Chile.[24] Its evolution is attributed to constant glaciation during the late Pliocene and Pleistocene era. The lake has a total drainage area of 3,042 km2 (1,175 sq mi) with basin elevation ranging from 27 m (89 ft) at the lake level to about 1,000 m (3,300 ft). The lake water spreads over an area of about 600 m2 (6,500 sq ft), with an average width of 6 km (3.7 mi) (maximum width is 10 km (6.2 mi) over a length of 104 km (65 mi) long and the maximum recorded depth is 204 m (669 ft), with an average depth reported as 70 m (230 ft). Its water volume is 1,000 km3 (240 cu mi).[25]

Following the establishment of a prison in Ushuaia, in late 1909 and early 1910 the railway line called the Southern Fuegian Railway or the End of the World train was established as a narrow gauge steam railway, replacing an old wood track railway drawn by bullocks. The steam engine driven railway was built over a length of 25 km (16 mi) along the Maipu Avenue on the water front, followed the eastern slope of Mount Susana and branched through the middle of the Pipo River valley into the Tierra del Fuego National Park. The line made with Decauville tracks of 500 mm (20 in) gauge, connected the prison camp with the forestry camp. The primary purpose of the railway was as a freight line to serve the prison of Ushuaia, and hence was known as the "Prison train," and was used specifically to transport prisoners to the camps and transport the logged timber from forests. The prison was closed in 1947, and the railway was finally closed in 1952, following the reduction in forest resources and an earthquake that damaged the tracks. It was only in 1994, 40 years after it had been closed as a Prison train, that the train was revived, refurbished with modern amenities, to be used as a heritage train, and claimed to be the southernmost functioning railway in the world. A new 2-6-2T steam locomotive (Camila, brought from England in 1995), another made in Argentina and three diesel locomotives serve on the line.[18] The park can now be reached from the outskirts of Ushuaia from the Fin del Mundo station (8 km (5.0 mi) west of Ushuaia) by the heritage railway line and runs over 5 km (3.1 mi), covering the distance in about 50 minutes.[27]